Appeal No. 2003-2058
Application No. 09/407,278
on a master tool. Further details of this appealed subject
matter are set forth in representative independent claim 17 which
reads as follows:
17. A method of manufacturing a composite part on a hybrid
tool, comprising:
coating a face sheet of a hybrid tool with a release agent,
said face sheet made from a composite material made on a master
tool, the composite material having a mold surface the same shape
and size as a surface of said part;
laying up plies of resin impregnated fabric material on said
face sheet to a desired thickness;
debulking said plies in a vacuum bag with gas pressure, and
curing said resin to form said part on said face sheet;
placing said hybrid tool on a machine tool bed at a position
designated in a machine tool program using positioning devices;
probing reference features on said hybrid tool to accurately
establish the position of said face sheet relative to a home
position of the machine tool, said reference features having been
transferred from corresponding reference feature on said master
tool;
normalizing said machine tool part program to correspond to
the actual position of the hybrid tool on the machine tool bed as
determined by said probing of said hybrid tool reference
features;
operating the machine tool to rotate a cutting tool while
following a cutting path along and within a groove in said face
sheet so that said cutting tool projects into said groove and
engages the full thickness of said laid-up part on said hybrid
tool face sheet for peripheral edge trimming of the part; and
removing the trimmed part from the mold surface.
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